The Deal
by MerlinWatsonMacgyverB99
Summary: Ezra had made deals in the past- some he kept, some he didn't. Favours and debts were last resorts; that had been one of his first lessons on the street. But in that moment, Ezra had been so desperate that he really did mean it in 'Rebel Resolve' when he told Vizago he would owe him any favour. Now he was being called out on it.
1. Chapter 1

The Deal

"Ah well- didn't that one just go right to plan?" Zeb laughed as the Ghost ship came to land back on rebel territory. Once again, it had been a narrow escape for the Ghost and its crew; it was only their second mission back since Kanan's kidnapping, and they were still getting used to relying on each other again. None of them, of course, would change it for the world- they were a whole family again, and that was all that mattered.

"Don't know about you guys, but I think I could sleep for a good couple of days!" Sabine yawned, stretching herself out of her seat and walking towards the ramp as the ship came to a stop.

"I was thinking- we have a few extra credits left this month: how about we go out today for something to celebrate? I think we've earnt it!" Hera suggested, feeling that the crew needed time to relax more for once. A chorus of agreements met her proposal, and Chopper chimed in with a few excited beeps before whizzing out of the ship.

"Wait up, Chop!" Ezra grinned as he hurried to follow the droid. For all of Chopper's grumpiness, Kanan couldn't help but think that the droid had a certain soft spot for one Ezra Bridger.

Unfortunately, the high spirits of the crew were soon cut short. As the crew approached the doorway, they were blocked by Chopper and Ezra standing there with none other than Ashoka Tano.

"Everything alright?" Kanan queried. He feared- rather guiltily, of course, that she could only bring bad news on their supposed night of relaxation.

"Almost" She replied, smiling reassuringly. "I've just got some business here to sort with Ezra." Kanan raised an eyebrow as she gestured to the boy in question. What could she want with only his padawan? Normally it was Kanan she was after- obviously feeling the need to speak Jedi to Jedi and all that. The fact that she was after Ezra strongly suggested that this wasn't going to be anything about Jedi (probably not even anything good for that matter).

"Oh. Okay then." Kanan didn't really consider this to be 'okay then' at all, but when Ashoka needed to talk, it was usually important. "We'll just wait here for him, I suppose."

"No, you don't have to wait… We're probably going to be a while." Ashoka explained, still not giving anything away. "Well, go on then. Ezra will see you soon." She ploughed on, giving the group a small nudge in the direction of town. With some reluctance, they turned their backs and slowly walked off, clearly unhappy with the arrangement, but unwilling to seem disrespectful. Ashoka smiled warmly down at Ezra.

"Sorry about this Ezra. I know you want to be relaxing with them, but I thought this was something you'd like to know on your own first." She explained, and gestured to the Ghost when he nodded curiously. "Come on, let's talk inside."

With a reassuring hand on his shoulder, they returned to the ship. Ashoka set down what looked to be a hologram disk onto the table of the common room.

"This is where it all starts. Now- to get right to the point… I'm not sure exactly what you did a few weeks back to find Kanan's whereabouts, but from this-" she gestured to the disk, "-I think I'm getting a good idea."  
Ezra's thoughts started racing, tripping over themselves in the anxiety that please say she didn't mean-

"Vizago." Ashoka did not sound like she approved. A press on the button of the disk made his form pop up from the 3D screen. Ezra felt his stomach plummet from just a look at the guy's face.

"I hoped the guy would forget all about it!" Ezra groaned, running his hand over his face. Ashoka smiled sympathetically.

"In my experience, a good pirate like Vizago never forgets when a favour is promised to him. He has been remarkably insistent that I get this message to you; I can't quite remember just how many times he managed to jam our signal to communicate with us."

Ezra paused for a moment. "Do you know exactly what this favour is?"

"I can't say for certain. In most of his messages, he says he won't disclaim the task unless talking to you personally. I've managed to piece together bits from his latest movement, and it's not looking too good- I think it's something to do with some cargo he's in possession of." She crossed her arms, looking thoughtful. "Look, the best thing you can do right now is just communicate with him. Maybe we can find some sort of loophole to get you out of this, but he won't leave any of us alone until you two sort it out." A wry smile grew on her face. "Think you're up to it?"

"Yeah- sure! I mean, after all, it is my fault he's badgering you guys so much." Ezra answered with a sheepish grin, feeling slightly guilty that Ashoka had needed to deal with the irritatingly persistent pirate. However, knowing that without Vizago, they wouldn't have Kanan back, Ezra knew that he'd suffer the same inconveniences in a heartbeat. He was ready to do anything- it was worth it, to have gotten his master back.

"Is there a way we can talk to him now? It's probably best if we just get it over and done with." Ezra suggested, ignoring the small part of himself that very much believed it was better if it was overdue and never done with.

Ashoka looked approving. "I'm glad you asked. This specific disk has the exact communication waves that Vizago's using recorded. It can easily set you up to talk to him. Pretty advanced for a space pirate." She added with a smile. Ezra tried to control his nerves as she set up the disk, but still felt a mild spike of anxiousness as she placed it in the palm of his hand.

"Whenever you're ready…" Ashoka did her best to look reassuring.

Ezra forced himself put on a face of confidence, and then pressed the small green button. He listened carefully to the static waves until eventually the rough voice could be heard over the buzz.

"Hello? Who is using my communication system?" The voice demanded.

"Uh, Vizago? It's me, Ezra… Ezra Bridger."

"Ahhhhhh- finally! Just the young boy I've been wanting to talk to!" Vizago sounded cheerful. Ezra gulped, but listened as the voice continued conversationally, "You know, you're not an easy person to get in touch with."

"Yeah? Well, some of us don't go around hacking communication lines…"

"Ahahaha,-there it is! That fighting spirit! Glad to hear it, my boy, because you'll be needing much of that for the favour I'll be asking."

"Great…" Ezra deadpanned. After a long pause, he continued, "Care to tell me what this favour actually is?" He was becoming fed up with this guy already.

"Ah, of course- straight to business… Well, you see, I have recently **…** come into possession of some **…** rather precious cargo; precious cargo that _has_ to make it to its buyer. I've already had several **…** problems just getting it onto my ship, let alone trying to get it to its destination. That is where you come in. I need you to be the protection for me and my cargo."

"Protection?" Ezra raised an eyebrow before realising that Vizago couldn't see it.

"Yes. It will be your job to ensure that me and my cargo make it all the way to our destination. However, there might be some complications on the way. Your little Jedi tricks will definitely be coming in handy- I'm warning you now, it's not going to be easy." Vizago explained.

Ezra rubbed at the back of his neck. "Look, Vizago, I sure would love to help, but—"

"If I didn't know better, my friend, I would think that you were going to end that sentence by backing out of this." Vizago's tone darkened suddenly. " You owe me, remember?"

Ezra rolled his eyes, wondering why his promise had so much value to Vizago.

"…Besides, I really would hate to release these _very_ confidential files I have on your rebel friends." Ezra caught the deliberate rustling of paper in the background. He recognised the scare tactic right away, but couldn't stop the goose bumps on his arms from rising.

"Ah… Spectre 2. Now, who, oh who could this spectre 2 be? Let me see." A pause. "Ahh- Hera Syndulla. Aww, there's even a photo- isn't that nice? Oh- and who's this? Spectre 3? Hmm… 'Garazeb Orrelios'. Wow- a lasat. Where did you find one of those?! Oh-ho, the empire is just going to love this… Mm who else now-"

Ezra couldn't take any more. "Okay! Stop. Stop it. I'll do it… Just- you have to destroy that information."

"Ah, see now, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Ezra glanced wearily over at Ashoka. She seemed to be just as surprised as he was, but caught his eye, giving him an encouraging nod before he turned back to the conversation.

"Now, my boy, are you listening? You can't miss out on any of these details- it's always all in the details you know." Following the amused drawl an overly lengthy conversation about where he would meet them, who and what he should watch out for and what his priorities were. It was a lot to process in one go, particularly as he started to dread each detail more than the next.

He had just got his family back and now he was going to have to leave them. That hardly seemed fair; why couldn't Vizago just forget about the stupid favour?

Apparently unaware of Ezra's frustration, Vizago dropped the communication line with a cheery goodbye. Naturally he took his time in reminding the boy just what was at stake if he didn't show before ending the call. Ezra slumped down into a chair, and the two contemplated his situation in silence for a minute, both trying to fully comprehend what they had heard.

"You did the right thing, Ezra" Ashoka spoke softly, breaking the silence. "I know this isn't going to be easy on you, but you have my word that we will all help you as much as we can." He murmured a quiet thanks to her, and she didn't miss the grateful look on his face. She took that as her cue to leave, knowing that he would want some peace to collect himself, to ready himself for when the crew arrived.

 **Author's note: In this story I will be taking my own version of how Vizago's favour with Ezra could've turned out. I know he's not a major villain in the series but in this story he's going to be meaner then he has previously been portrayed :) Hope you guys enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

Although they had made it to small bar with good drinks in hand, none of the crew were in the mood for relaxing. No one had directly addressed it yet, but their thoughts couldn't help but fly back to their youngest member who was now discussing some mysterious business with Ashoka. Hera glanced over to Kanan as she watched him close his eyes again; clearly using the force. She couldn't be sure, but she hoped he was trying to connect to Ezra. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw him fall out of his meditation, a frown forming on his features. Evidently, this wasn't going to be good news.

He breathed in sharply, opening his eyes.

"Well come on Kanan- your Jedi tricks telling you anything?" Zeb huffed, his concern for the kid showing even if it was through his anger.

"A few things… I'm sensing that Ezra's annoyed, definitely worried…surprised- and maybe a little sad? I must say, he seems to be getting better at the Jedi tricks I'm teaching him; it was a lot harder to read him this time. But it doesn't sound like good news…" Kanan trailed off.

"Of course it isn't. When is it ever?!" Sabine exclaimed, frustrated.

"I say we head back then. There's no use in prolonging it, and I'd rather know exactly what it is we're dealing with." Hera sighed, standing up as the group made their way out of the bar and back to the ship. As they trudged back, Kanan tried to communicate with his padawan through their bond, but it seemed Ezra was shutting him out. Becoming more concerned, Kanan hurried up their pace.

As they returned to the ship they crossed with Ashoka who was walking down the ramp.

"Ezra's inside… Just know that the rebellion will help him however they can." Ashoka smiled softly, giving them a nod before making her way out.

Chopper beeped angrily.

"Couldn't agree more" Zeb cried, "how kriffin' mysterious can one person get?!"

Upon entering the common room, the group were met with one Ezra Bridger seated at the table, furiously scribbling down something on paper.

"Hey" He looked up briefly, having heard them enter.

"It's not good news, is it?" Kanan asked, coming to sit down beside his padawan. The rest of the crew slotted themselves into the picture; Hera by the table whilst Zeb and Sabine took a seat. Chopper waited by the table, silent for once.

"Not exactly…" Ezra sighed, trying to figure out where to start. "It's to do with something- well, more like some _one_ that we got involved with when rescuing Kanan…" Ezra hinted, cringing when realisation dawned on most of the crew member's faces.

"Oh- not him!"

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"Karabast!"

"What?!" Kanan cried "Who and what am I missing here?" Everyone turned towards the Jedi.

 _Oh how Kanan is not going to like this…_ Zeb thought to himself.

"Okay! Let's just all calm down." Hera ordered, "… Right, well you see- Kanan, you've never really heard the full story of how we found you. I was given orders that finding your position had become impossible and that it was safer to move on from finding you… but Ezra here didn't quite agree with that decision."

"Ezra?" Kanan turned to face him. "What did you do?"

Ezra sighed, knowing he was in a heap of trouble.

"Vizago-" Ezra winced when Kanan's eyebrows immediately shot up. "I went to Vizago… He had information on how we could find you- I know he did, but he wasn't very forth coming with the information. So in order to get the knowledge on your position, I had to give him something …and as I didn't have anything on me at the time I may have promised him a favour."

"You did WHAT?!" Kanan tried not to shriek. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I had to find you, Kanan…" He paused. "I know you would've done the same thing, so don't even try to make me regret it." Ezra challenged.

"You know the kid's right." Zeb added, trying to get Kanan to simmer down.

"I know," Kanan sighed, releasing the tension from his shoulders. "I know- you did what you had to do… So what, this business with Ashoka was to do with Vizago?" Kanan asked, switching the topic. He wasn't annoyed at Ezra- no, merely annoyed that he had been the reason such things had happened.

"Yeah; he's calling in his favour… In a day to be precise."

"Oh karabast." He muttered, "Tell me it's just some sort of payment or… ?"

"No, not exactly. It's… um, well- he wants me to be the 'protector' of him and his cargo… He's got to take it to some buyer but he's been having a little trouble. Apparently this cargo is eagerly wanted by other people, so he wants me to do whatever I can to make sure it makes it to its destination." As Ezra finished it was clear the crew weren't happy.

"There's got to be some way to get out of this?" Sabine tried.

"'Fraid not. I tried backing out but he had some leverage over me… Somehow he knows all of our true identities. Literally everything- photos, names… and he threatened to turn them over to the empire. I'm sorry, but no way was I going to let them get any of it-"

"That's all well and good, Ezra, but what does that mean now?" Hera queried, glad that Ezra had done the right thing. Still, she was nowhere near happy with what might be the outcome of it.

"It means I accepted his request… and I leave tomorrow afternoon."

A chorus of disagreements erupted from the crew.

"What other choice is there?" Ezra countered back calmly, gaining everyone's attention. "Look- it'll be over before we know it, and then I never have to owe this guy anything ever again… I made this problem, so I'm going to sort it." With Ezra's conclusion the crew seemed to slump slightly, realising just what this meant for them.

Slowly, the group nodded and small plans were made about how they'd sort out tomorrow, making it as normal as possible. Eventually each member flitted out, the evening coming quickly. Hera went back to her piloting; work always kept her occupied. Zeb left to head down to the hanger where he could deal his frustration out on the dummies with his bow staff. Sabine gathered up her equipment and went to her room- painting always helped. Chopper shut himself off from the world and went into charging mode, clearly irritated. Kanan and Ezra remained. Ezra stood, gathering his rough notes and heading for the door.

"Hang on- I'll come with you." Kanan decided spontaneously quickly standing to follow his padawan.

Outside the ship, Ezra smirked mischievously at Kanan, before taking a Jedi leap up onto the top of the Ghost. Not one to back down from a challenge, Kanan soon followed.

He joined Ezra on the flat surface of the Ghost's roof, sitting down next to him so their shoulders bumped as they both looked up into the sky above. It was beginning to turn to evening and an orangey pink coloured the sky, washing down the blue ready for the stars to come. The colours chased the sun as it set over in the horizon. Here Kanan felt calm, his padawan beside him, their force bond humming strongly, the crew on deck below, and the cool air refreshing his senses. Some silly part of him wished they could stay like this forever. As he sat shoulder to shoulder with his apprentice he tried to gauge how Ezra was feeling about this. Gently he used the force to probe the boy's mind- clearly not gently enough, for Ezra turned to smile at him.

"Trying to mind read again master?" Ezra chuckled.

"Alright" Kanan laughed, raising his hands in the air in surrender, "You caught me" As Ezra rolled his eyes, Kanan went back to his sky watching.

"Kanan…You know I'm going to be alright, yeah?" Ezra asked, turning serious.

"I know Ezra- you're fully capable of fending for yourself. I do know that… But I can't help but get a bad feeling about this" Kanan admitted.

"You and me both."

"Well then why don't we just come with you? That way we've got each other's backs." Kanan suggested… He had to- no, wanted to- do this to protect Ezra.

"Kanan… I would never not want you there" Ezra admitted honestly "But Vizago's not letting me bring anyone. I tried really I did but he claims that having too many of us will bring too much attention to him. After all one lightsabre's going to cause quite a stir… I didn't want to go against him, not with the information he has…" Ezra trailed off, frustrated with everything but ready to face it. He was ready to pay his debt; it was only fair- after all, he had got his master back.

"Kid…" Kanan wasn't sure what to say. He could feel Ezra's acceptance and readiness for self-sacrifice strongly; which only got to him more. "I know what you're saying is right, but you need anything- and I mean anything- then you contact us first thing alright? Make sure you bring your com, or even contact me through the force and we'll- no I'll- be there you got that?"

Ezra looked down, smiling oddly at how parental Kanan sounded but touched by the sentiment "Thank you Kanan."

"Oh, come here" Kanan smiled warmly, opening his arms and closing them tightly when he had the form of his padawan safely enclosed in his arms. Ezra relaxed into the embrace, breathing in the warmth and safety he felt. Kanan would rather he didn't have to let Ezra go but he knew that was not happening; not with the information against them.

As the sun melted away, darkness overcame the sky. Kanan and Ezra headed back inside the Ghost, ready to face tomorrow's challenges.

Morning came and Ezra awoke; as much as he didn't want to get out of bed, the thought that the quicker he left the quicker he could return kept him going. Hera had made sure he was well kitted out before placing a hand on his cheek as her way of a goodbye; Sabine supplied him with some of her miracles giving him a friendly hug; Zeb had given him a good teasing before straightening up and giving Ezra a lasat salute, an honour that had Ezra speechless; then finally there was Kanan, who merely smiled to his padawan, connected with him through the force sending him all the strength and hope he believed Ezra had, embracing him quickly before a quick 'don't do anything stupid' passed his lips.

"Remember- keep us updated; if you can use your com every day we'll be sure to answer." Hera said. Ezra thanked her, thanked them all. He gave everyone a final nod and turned out of the Ghost, into the world beyond.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ezra! Ezra Bridger." Vizago called out as Ezra entered the ship docking station "I knew you'd come!"

"Uh-huh, nice to see you too Vizago" Ezra chimed, sarcasm not very well hidden.

"Come then, onto the ship. We don't have all day." Vizago ushered Ezra towards the entrance, before marching inside himself and yelling some more commands to his crew. _Oh boy_ , thought Ezra, fighting a wry grin, _this is going to be fun_.

It turned out Ezra was getting to bunk down in one of the lower compartments of the ship. It was actually a cargo hold, but if it meant Ezra had his own private space then he was more than happy to take it. A hammock conveniently swung from side to side as the ship jostled out of the hanger. Well- looking on the bright side- it certainly wasn't the roughest he'd ever had to sleep. He had just finished putting his minimal belongings down when Vizago entered the room.

"There we are, all settled…" He smiled falsely, pausing for a second. "Although don't get too comfortable, my friend; you never know what might happen. Oh- and I'd watch your belongings. We are pirates, after all…." His grin became genuine and unnerving.

"Um… okay." Ezra replied uneasily.

Seemingly oblivious to the boy's discomfort, Vizago continued cheerfully. "I expect you to act like any member of my crew would. That means you will be taking part in the night watch shift we have here. You're taking the rota between 3 and 6am, alright? I will be wanting to speak to you more tomorrow, but we'll leave it at that for now." He concluded with a toothy smile before striding out of the room, assumedly to hurl more orders at his crew. He was pretty organised- for a pirate.

A night shift rota? Ezra groaned. That was going to be simply marvellous. It was already fairly late; he would have to sleep now if he wanted any rest at all. So, settling down into the still-swinging hammock, he closed his eyes. He couldn't prevent a sigh escaping his lips; he wished he was in his own bed right now back on the Ghost (even if it did mean putting up with Zeb's snores).

Empty.

The Ghost felt so empty without that extra life force on board. It hadn't really hit Kanan until he'd lay down to sleep; he and Ezra usually brushed goodnight with their force bond, then, feeling out the ship and the humming life of his family, Kanan would gradually fall asleep. But without Ezra's presence, there was suddenly a gaping hole…

Damn that kid.

Fidgeting restlessly, Kanan drifted off to sleep.

"Oi! Oi, kid- get up!" A gruff voice shattered Ezra's eardrums as his hammock was shoved upside down and he was flung roughly onto the floor.

"Alright, alright. I'm up!" Ezra rubbed his bruised shoulder ruefully.

"You're turn for watch- cockpit." He ordered, before slinking away.

Sighing, Ezra dusted himself off, wiped the sleep from his eyes and attempted to find the cockpit. The ship was silent besides the quiet humming of the engine. With a stretch he set himself down in the cockpit and cast his eyes out into the night sky. He could feel the force mingling around him. Confident he wouldn't fall asleep, he closed his eyes momentarily and embraced himself fully into the force, sensing the ship around him with all the different life signatures.

He thought back on his lessons with Kanan, and toyed with the idea of if he would be able to reach him from here. Mustering all the concentration he was capable of, Ezra tried focus on his master, straining to seek him out from all the other life forces on the planet. He struggled to mentally follow back across the path he'd taken from the Ghost to get to Vizago's ship, feeling a surge of relief when he finally latched on to a familiar force- Kanan! He basked in the feeling of his master's presence, unconsciously smiling as he observed how he always seemed so… strong. He sent a wave of good thoughts towards Kanan, then tried to pull back, knowing he should probably go back to guarding the ship or whatever. However, he suddenly felt himself restrained from drifting away. The next thing he knew was complete darkness- both the life presences around him and the grimy interior of the ship had vanished.

"What?" He could still speak out loud, thankfully. "What happened? Hello?"

Kanan was sure he was asleep. He hadn't been dreaming before, but now he was suddenly aware of hearing Ezra's voice. He knew his padawan wasn't on board, and yet…

It felt too.. real-

Wait.

"Ezra?!" A familiar voice called to him after a few moments of unbearable silence.

"Kanan!" Ezra was relieved but still surprised. "How am I speaking to you?" Ezra tried to spot his master's face in the blackness that swamped his vision.

"Did you try to find me through the force?" Kanan asked, the pieces slotting themselves together as he figured out what his padawan had managed to do.

"Yeeaah…" Ezra replied slowly, wondering if he'd maybe done something wrong,

"That's impressive. I'm surprised you found me," He paused thoughtfully for a second. "But I think if you had tried to connect to me too much, you may have inadvertently placed yourself into my dreams." Kanan pondered aloud, "At least, that's what I think this is."

"Oh wow, that's pretty cool!" Ezra smiled "I can't believe that's even possible!"

"If I remember correctly, with practise force wielders can even see each other through the subconscious. It would be a bit like meeting our dream selves. Of course, there's always dark ways to use this skill-"

Ezra rolled his eyes. When was there not?

"-but for communication it's pretty useful." Kanan finished. He was shocked that the boy had managed to hold up the link for so long.

"Well… I hope I didn't interrupt any dreams you were having then, master." Ezra laughed "'Coz that could've been pretty awkward…" Kanan laughed at first before realising fully what Ezra could be suggesting.

"Ezra!" He cried, slightly embarrassed. The laughter of his padawan continued for a moment, before stopping rather abruptly.

"Kanan- you're fading slightly… I think I'm losing my connection." Ezra panicked.

"You've done well to hold it for this long. Don't push yourself, just let it go… Now that you've done it once you'll definitely find it easier to connect next time… You might feel pretty tired after this, Ezra, so let go now, okay?"

"But-"

"No buts, padawan. We can talk again soon… Stay safe, okay?" Kanan asked softly.

"Okay… Speak soon."

Ezra's presence suddenly jerked out of his awareness, and the feeling jolted Kanan awake. Miles away, Ezra was also startled awake. He was amazed by the force; he'd actually managed to find and talk to Kanan! The discovery left him feeling miles less alone, and determination flooded his senses. He could do this mission; he knew he could.

He wondered if Kanan would mind if Ezra joined his dreams every night.


	4. Chapter 4

Hyperspace still shone out through the windows of the cockpit. Ezra dimly wondered how long he had been sitting there, but soon lost himself once again in the stars outside, watching as they sped past them.

He wasn't waiting for too long until another pirate came into the cockpit, claiming it was his turn for watch and instructing him to meet Vizago in his room. Having been given rough directions, Ezra headed out, feeling somewhat nervous.

The door to Vizago's room was already cracked open slightly when Ezra approached.

"Vizago?" He called out uncertainly, starting to doubt if he had the right room. He knocked lightly on the door, which slowly swung open, revealing an empty captain's quarters.

Timidly, Ezra stepped inside, trying to make as little noise as possible. Unsurprisingly, his curiosity soon got the better of him and he started to poke around the room.

Vizago, needless to say, had a lot of stuff _._ The walls were lined with various trinkets: a rusty gun on the wall there, a strange-looking digital painting hung at a jaunty angle. Boxes and chests were littered around the floor. Ezra could see various oddities inside each; sometimes just different pieces of cloth, and other times gems and stones that looked rather expensive- could this be the mysterious cargo that Vizago needed protection for? The room was dimly lit, and had an almost… _ancient_ vibe; strange, considering they were on a spaceship.

Ezra was in the middle of the room now, where a small table displayed more of Vizago's collectables; papers and maps acted like a tablecloth against its surface, dotted with various signed documents and deals…

Hang on.

He was halted in his browsing when he saw a piece of paper with a familiar name on it- that was Zeb! He scanned the text on it quickly, but the more he read, the more he realised how vague and unsure the knowledge was. Yes, the papers had Zeb's (and, with a bit more looking, Hera's) name, but no photos like Vizago had claimed. This had to be the same information Vizago had threatened he'd release to the empire, but Ezra recognised the logo on the paper right away. Shock distorted his face as he realised Vizago had actually gotten this information _from_ the empire, so the pirate couldn't threaten him with it; he didn't actually have any more information on them than the empire did! Ezra breathed a sigh of relief. He was grateful his friends weren't in any more possible danger, yet at the same time that meant that Vizago had lied to him just to get him on board.

"I see you found my quarters." Vizago's voice made Ezra jump. He spun round to face him, paper still in hand.

"You lied! You don't know anything-"

"Of course I lied… child, I don't understand how you haven't realised this, but it's what I do! You would've never come if I didn't have something over you... But you owe me, Ezra. Nobody gets out of a favour that easily."

"Vizago, I'm here now… I wouldn't- I know I owe you—" Ezra tried to object, sensing something was wrong.

"Too right you do, and I'm going to make sure you go through with this." Vizago's tone darkened, and it was then that Ezra noticed two men lurking in the doorway. Vizago jerked his head and they stalked forward at his signal. Ezra backed away, scared as to what Vizago's threat could mean.

"I don't think there's any need- I'll go through with it I'll-"

"Oh yeah you're going through with it. Get him, boys!" Vizago ordered, and they pounced. Ezra leapt out of the way of the first grab, but the duo weren't put off. He ducked and twisted, restricted in the confines of the room, but, for a moment, confident he could make it to the door. That was before the hands had wrapped around his ankle and he was pulled roughly to the floor. He hit the ground with a thud and the promise of several interesting bruises to come. He groaned, tried to push himself up, before discovering that it was very hard to do so with an unnervingly strong arms pinning him to the floor.

"There we go. Thank you, Xevin" Vizago smiled at the man. "Now Ezra, I know you want to help me out and get back to your crew, but this is just going to be a very small measure to ensure that you do _exactly_ as I ask, and come with me right to my dealer." As Vizago was talking, he started to unlock a metal cuff from around his belt. It was fairly small in size and grey in colour, besides the small lights flickering from it. Ezra's heart was pounding- this could not be good. He was speechless as he squirmed in the guard's grasp, trying to get away as Vizago approached.

"Hold still now." He cooed, opening a metal attachment as the human guard roughly grabbed his arm and held it out straight. Ezra was in full-throttled panic, hands sweating, struggling with all his might. There was a sharp hiss and then pure pain as the cuff seemed to burn itself into his skin. Ezra bit the inside of his cheek so that a pained whimper was the only sound he made. He slowly looked around to his wrist to see the bulky metal cuff embedded there. Immediately, the guard's grip was gone and Ezra slumped. Vizago crouched down to look right into Ezra's eyes.

"Listen carefully. This little gadget of mine will ensure you stick to orders. I have this remote here-" He held up a small device "-and I can do two things with it. The first…"

Vizago pressed a button and suddenly Ezra was gasping in pain as currents of electricity surged through him, blood replaced by pure lightning. "Not too extreme, that one. The second one… Ooh, well, I won't be able to demonstrate it, but to put it simply- it's a bomb. You think you've got away from us- well, you won't get far alive. You try to remove the cuff without this remote, you die. Doesn't matter how far you get. I could activate it- or you could." Vizago laughed.

Ezra sat up on the floor. The shock had ripped right through him and pain was pulsing through his body. He didn't want to be weak or show how scared he was in front of Vizago, but his body just wasn't co-operating. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself back up to standing again, still not feeling ready to talk but giving the best glare he could muster. Vizago smirked, evidently seeing right through Ezra's façade.

"There, there, young Jedi. Just follow orders and you'll be back with your crew before you know it." Vizago promised with a sneer. He pointed Ezra towards the door and a pat on the back sent him outside in the empty corridor, breathing harshly as he stared down at the metal gripping his wrist.

* * *

The Ghost crew hadn't done much in Ezra's absence; they were still aboard the rebel base. Supplies needed to be stocked up, so it had been a quiet day. Hera had distributed lists of tasks to be done to each crew member, and once complete, they had the rest of the day off. These instructions from Hera were very vague, reflecting how distracted she already was.

Finishing her list quickly, Sabine had managed to get a couple of extra credits to spend on some more paints without too much hassle. She couldn't help her worry for Ezra but was confident in his abilities and knew he'd be able to handle himself.

Zeb was much the same, and frequently reassured himself that Ezra had spent most of his life alone, and knew how to with almost any situation; still, that didn't mean he could just forget about the kit that had become much like his younger brother. It had been strange for the Lasat to wake up without no one sleeping in the bunk above his. He'd collected his supplies quickly, then used the rest of the day taking his weapons out for a practise; with all their missions lately he hadn't been able to work on his technique.

Kanan had spent his day doing all the odd jobs he had been putting off over the past months; he fixed the pipe in the engine room, re-adjusted his lightsabre, looked over old maps… Anything to keep him happily distracted. Ezra kept floating back into his mind, but in by doing simple tasks he was able to keep himself at peace. He had faith in his young one's abilities.

His faith wavered, however, when, in the middle of studying an old Jedi book, a sharp spike of pain tore through his skull. He cradled his head in his hands, but the strain only lasted a few moment before residing completely

…What the-?

He was hesitant at first to reach out into the force, ready for the pain again, but as he eased into it he found nothing. He tried stretching out, before catching onto a familiar thread- his and Ezra's bond… But that would mean-

Oh karabast, something had definitely gone wrong.

The kid was in some kind of pain and where was he? Halfway across the galaxy from his padawan. Not knowing what else to do, Kanan latched onto the thread of their bond and tried to follow it back to Ezra. He sat there, keeping his mind open, for what felt like hours, but had no success. With worry now corrupting all his thoughts, Kanan paced his room, hoping that if Ezra really was in trouble he would at least contact them on their comms.

With night falling, Kanan met the crew for a quiet dinner before returning back to his room. He didn't mention the headache to any of them, not wanting to cause concern, but now that he was back in his bunk, concern filled his mind for his padawan and he drifted off into a restless sleep.

* * *

 **Author's note: Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far, I really appreciate the comments! Updates for this story should continue regularly because I've got my plans laid out for the rest of the chapters :) Thanks again**


	5. Chapter 5

Ezra's dreams, much like his master's, were not peaceful. For most of the night he was caught in the throes of a nightmare, violently twisting and turning in his sleep. Images and sounds haunted him as the pain of the past attacked him over and over again. Vizago's earlier treatment of him had brought back memories from the street that he would much rather forget about, but he couldn't escape them in his dreams. Dreams that twisted darker and yet more harrowing, shapes becoming clearer, the voices yelling at Ezra louder. His parents- _it's all your fault, how could you leave us Ezra?_ Kanan dying in his arms- _you've let us down, you've let me down, how could you?_ Over and over he saw his worst fears dragged, writhing and scratching, to light. _No, no, NO!_

 _EZRA!_

 _A sharp voice broke through the darkness. Its tone held no tone malice or hate._

 _Ezra looked around, confused. The faces and visions that had previously haunted him were replaced only with darkness. He felt alone. What had happened?_

 _Ezra?_

 _The voice came again, it searched him out, reaching down for him in the darkness. Pulling himself up Ezra went towards the voice, its light source beckoning him. He jumped back, surprised, when his master appeared before him._

 _"_ _Ezra!" The form of Kanan smiled, coming towards him._

 _"_ _No- no… Stay back." Ezra warned, voice shaking._

 _"_ _Ezra… It's okay, it's me" Kanan sounded pained, "I found you through the force. Remember how you did with me? Seems our connection has grown because I can see you this time"_

 _Ezra nodded slowly._

 _"_ _You were having a nightmare, padawan. Took me a while to break through it." Ezra allowed Kanan to get closer this time._

 _"_ _Sorry," he breathed, calming down now he knew the nightmares wouldn't be coming back. Kanan wouldn't let them._

 _"_ _Hey- that's alright. You okay?" Kanan asked, concern showing. He was grateful he'd reached his padawan when he had; the terror and sadness radiating through their bond had connected him straight to his suffering young one. Where he had then concentrated his training on breaking down the bricks of Ezra's nightmares to find the shaking boy beneath. Being able to see each other's dreams forms was definitely a strange experience but being able to see his padawan had made him more relieved than he realised._

 _"_ _Yeah, thank you- thanks" Ezra supplied, smiling for the first time "It's good to see you!" Ezra gave a small laugh. "Even if you're not real."_

 _Kanan chuckled too. "Well, I'm mostly real- just the form I'm in right now isn't."_

 _"_ _Does that mean I can change how I look if I wanted to?" Ezra asked, curious._

 _"_ _I suppose so, if you concentrated enough." Kanan mused, watching as Ezra glanced down to the wrist hidden behind his back before closing his eyes and concentrating completely._

 _"_ _Um Ezra? What you doing there?" Kanan raised an eyebrow. Ezra's eyes flashed open and he slumped slightly. He pulled his wrist out from behind his back oddly reluctantly, but then his eyes widened and he smiled- Kanan looked on confused- wondering why his padawan was smiling at his normal wrist._

 _"_ _Ezra what's going on- what did you do?"_

 _Ezra looked up guiltily, rubbing his wrist slightly._

 _"_ _Kanan- I… Vizago…" Ezra didn't seem to know what to say._

 _"_ _Ezra-"_

 _"_ _Kanan, it's fine, really- I have it under control!" Ezra blurted, withdrawing into himself._

 _"_ _Padawan, please" Kanan paused, trying to think of a way to get through to his stubborn student, "You'd want to know if it was me wouldn't you?... So please tell me as much as you can." Kanan begged. It took a moment, but Kanan's words worked and Ezra nodded, deciding to start with the good news._

 _"_ _Okay, so… The information he has on us- it's all fake; he doesn't know anything. What he threatened us with was information he had stolen from the empire." Ezra was glad to see the worried look melt slightly off his master's face._

 _"_ _Well that's great news!" Kanan smiled. The expression faltered when he realised he hadn't heard the whole story. "There's more?"_

 _Ezra nodded. "Well- when I found out he didn't have anything over me, Vizago assumed I would try to run, to get out of doing his favour. I admit it crossed my mind," Ezra confessed "But I wanted to do what was fair and complete this. Vizago… um, well- he didn't quite share the same opinion…"_

 _"_ _What has he done, Ezra?" Kanan asked, kneeling down and placing his hands on his padawan's shoulders. Without meeting Kanan's eyes, Ezra offered his wrist. It looked normal at first, but after a couple of seconds, the illusion was taken away. Kanan's eyes widened at the sight of the harsh metal band that covered Ezra's wrist. With a half-suppressed gasp, Kanan's hands gently reached down to lift Ezra's arm and examine the gadget._

 _Ezra watched as his master's face became one of anger and sadness. Kanan continued to thoroughly check the cuff, even attempting to pull it to see if it gave any way._

 _It did not._

 _Kanan was furious. How dare somebody do this to his padawan? What right did they have to use someone this way? If Vizago was here right now, Kanan would personally ensure he got what he deserved. Snapping himself out of his anger, Kanan gently lowered Ezra's arm._

 _"_ _Does this do what I think it does?"_

 _"_ _Depends on what you're thinking…" Ezra replied evasively._

 _"_ _Looks like it can generate electric shocks?" Kanan guessed, recognising some of the wiring._

 _"_ _Yeah, you got that spot on." Ezra grimaced. Kanan noticed, and his expression became impossibly darker with the knowledge that Vizago had clearly already tried his gadget out._

 _"_ _Don't worry, Ezra. I'll figure something out" Kanan promised._

 _"_ _Kanan, there is nothing to figure out. It's simple- I complete his favour and then it's all over. This is the best and safest way to do this." Ezra argued, still having not told Kanan about the bomb on his wrist too._

 _"_ _Ezra, you don't have to do things alone anymore! We can find you, Zeb will be able to take out those pirates easy, I'll get Sabine to remove that cuff- -"_

 _Kanan had been wondering privately if Vizago would stay true to his word when it came to the end of the favour. He soon decided not to think about it._

 _"_ _No!" Even Ezra was surprised by the volume of his protest. "Kanan… You don't understand. You cannot come here. You can't help." Ezra flustered, feeling himself becoming emotional. He knew his words were true: if they did what Kanan was planning and Sabine took off the cuff without Vizago's remote then not only would he be dead but he'd be taking the whole crew with him. Not to mention the massive risk they'd be taking in trying to get to him anyway! "I know you want to help, and I agree- I'd love to do this as a team, but you have to trust me-" He faltered slightly, trying to find the right words. "There's too much at risk."_

 _Kanan sighed and was silent for a few moments. "There's something else, isn't there?" It wasn't really a question. He saw straight through his padawan: he was trying to protect them from something._

 _Ezra slumped, defeated. "Yes. So you're just going to have to trust me right now… I will stay in contact, and when- if- I need help, I know to call you."_

 _"_ _You're not going to tell me what this complication is?"_

 _"_ _Not yet. Maybe when I've got something more to help…" Ezra admitted, albeit a little sheepishly. He knew he was asking too much, yet when he looked at Kanan he saw acceptance. His master nodded at him, somehow knowing to trust Ezra here and not question any further._

 _"_ _You better keep that promise to stay in touch, then!" Kanan chided, regretful that he couldn't help Ezra further now. He could console himself slightly, knowing he got the boy to understand that they would always help._

 _"_ _I promise." Ezra nodded, smiling softly, giving his silent thanks to Kanan for understanding- he really did have the best master he could have hoped for. "Sorry for waking you- well, not waking you, exactly, but interrupting. You should get back to sleep now." Ezra advised, sensing waves of exhaustion from Kanan. The Jedi had, after all, been holding up the connection for a long time._

 _"_ _Alright, padawan, but you be careful and if you need anything- anything- then you call." Kanan finished, leaving Ezra no other options_

 _"_ _Okay," Ezra agreed, "And… Thank you." With that Ezra, force-pushed Kanan away, back safely on the Ghost. His master was asleep instantly and Ezra smiled, sensing, for a moment, the familiar comfort of home, before he was reluctantly snapped awake._

Alone, on a cold ship.

Honestly, had Vizago never heard of central heating?

Or even _heat,_ for that matter.


	6. Chapter 6

Ezra lay there for a while, fingers rubbing over the metal band subconsciously. Had showing Kanan been the right decision? He jerked up from his resting as the lights suddenly went out, swamping the room in blackness. Seconds afterwards, red and blue bulbs started to flash, a loud siren blared out across the ship. With his adrenaline starting to increase Ezra leaped up, out of the room, to try and find out what the heck was going on.

Soon enough he was breaking into a run verging on a sprint. There were crew members everywhere shouting angrily, some lifting things here, others running in and out of various rooms. Finally- _finally_ \- Ezra came to the cockpit. He noticed Vizago standing by the pilot.

"What's going on?!" He called out, dodging another pirate who rushed out of the room.

"Attack…A band of 'wannabe pirates.'" Vizago laughed "Recently they've become quite- _attached_ to us, but they've never mounted a full-scale attack like this before."

The concerning thing was that, for a band of pirates who supposedly weren't quite pirates, they sure did know how to carry out an effective attack. Another explosion rattled the ship, and Ezra had to hold onto a nearby rail to stop himself from being thrown halfway across the ship.

"Jedi- get on that gun turret NOW!" Vizago yelled, pointing to the chair below the control panel.

 _No arguments here,_ Ezra thought with a manic grin.

He slid down beneath the panel to sit in the chair, finding he had an excellent view of a terrifyingly huge ship. It was almost as big as one of the Empire's, and was protected with a wall of smaller fighters around it- one hell of a defence. It loomed over them, coming closer and closer. Ezra, wasting no time, directed his shots towards the main front of the ship. Again and again he hit down the fighters, but as soon as he did another would replace it.

"There's too many of them!" Ezra called up.

"Keep shooting, boy!" Vizago responded helpfully.

Other than the command, there was only the constant sounds of wailing sirens, shouts and orders from the pirates, explosions- the sound of war. Ezra lost track of how long they'd been trying to hold their own when he suddenly saw a huge gun turret being hauled up on top of the other ship.

"Uh- Vizago…"

"I see it! ALL GUNS- OPEN FIRE ON THAT WEAPON!" Vizago ordered, sounding as panicked as Ezra felt. Almost instantly, most of Vizago's turrets were aimed towards the menacing-looking weapon. It was a good attempt, but not enough.

Before anyone could react, the weapon was charged and a firecracker of blasters shot out straight towards them.

"TAKE COVER!" Vizago screamed, just seconds before the missile hit.

Ezra was aware only of a massive crash, followed by several deafening explosions. Everyone on board was roughly tossed around. Ezra dimly registered hearing a sickening crack before his head whiplashed on a hard surface- he couldn't tell if it was floor, wall, or ceiling. Unsteadily he tried to pull himself back to his feet. The ship seemed to be spinning uncontrollably. He noticed they were dipping down; they were losing all engine power! Ezra's ears were bombarded with yells and wails coming from all over the ship, as well as those blasted sirens that wouldn't shut up. Scrambling from his place on the turret Ezra climbed back up, gasping in pain when he tried to put weight on his arm. Not good.

The cockpit was a mess. He was about to leap over the debris to the rest of the ship when a hand grasped his wrist. Vizago pulled himself up, latched onto Ezra. Thankfully he wasn't using the arm with what Ezra now suspected to be a broken shoulder.

"You're to stay here, understand?" He demanded. Despite the authoritative tone, Ezra could hear the shaky tone of his voice; clearly he'd been thrown around too much for his own liking too.

"But what are you going to do? I've seen the outside. We're going down!" Ezra tried to explain without shrieking.

"Don't worry; Vizago plans for situations such as these."

Ezra did not think that Vizago referring to himself in third person was a good sign.

"Quickly- run down to the end of this hanger corridor. You should see a red lever, just like the one there." Vizago instructed him, pointing across the room to a rusty lever.

"But why? What's-"

"Just DO IT."

With a shaken nod, Ezra ran out of the cockpit, trying to ignore the dizziness which was making the walls tilt around him. There were some bodies around the floor, generally accompanied by murmurs of people starting to wake. He reached the end of the corridor and located the lever fairly quickly. He stared at it blankly, wondering what in the galaxy Vizago planned to do.

"You there yet Jedi?" Vizago's voice crackled up from the band on his wrist. Okay- so it was a communicator too?

"Yeah- what now?"

"We pull the levers at the same time. On my count."

"But wait, what's that going to do?"

"Unimportant. No time. You'll have to wait and see." Vizago explained hurriedly as the ship rattled again from another round of blaster fire.

"Quickly- 3,2,1- NOW!" Vizago counted. Ezra pushed down the lever, and as it landed, he heard the unnerving clicking and the whirring of mechanisms. Suddenly the doors in front of him- which, he recalled, led to the other half of the ship- started to close slowly.

"No! Please wait!"

Ezra followed the desperate voice to see a few crew members limping down the corridor.

"Hurry!" Ezra called, feeling rather helpless. To his slight surprise, they actually sped up, the futile limping increasing.

They weren't going fast enough.

The doors inched closer and closer together. Ezra's mind whirred before a split second decision had him stepping through the doors.

"Jedi! You are not to cross that door. Do not help them." Vizago's order rang out through the ship. Strangely, none of Vizago's men looked surprised.

"But- Vizago, they can't-"

"No."

Ezra wasn't listening. He didn't know what was going to happen when that door would finally close but by the desperation on those pirate's faces he knew it couldn't be anything good. He hesitated, but then headed forward.

"Ezra, I'm warning you." Vizago's tone darkened considerably.

"I can help them!" Ezra called, racing down the corridor to reach them.

"No! I need you alive." Vizago, apparently having run out of both ideas and patience, activated the bracelet and suddenly shocks were running into Ezra's body. He cried out, but tried to keep shuffling forward. After a few seconds, the electricity subsided and Ezra gritted his teeth, finally reaching the first pirate.

"C'mon" He managed, slinging the man's arm over his shoulders and pulling him forward much quicker. He pushed the man- dimly remembering that Vizago had called him Xevin earlier- through the doorway. He managed to get the other two afterwards more easily, but was left outside as the doors were moments from slamming closed. Quickly, he acted on instinct, jamming the door open with the force and just managing to squeeze through before the doors closed with an ominous thud.

He crouched down, exhausted.

Knocking.

A loud panicked knocking quickly turned into violent slamming behind the doors that had just closed. Ezra jumped round in surprise.

"NO! Please! Open the doors, please!" Several voices joined in the pleas.

"Vizago get that door open! There's more of them." Ezra cried down his com.

"You've defied me enough already, child. Besides- it's too late for them."

"No!" The pounding on the door made Ezra feel sick.

Before he could even think about doing anything, the sound of air pressure being released plugged his ears. As if in slow motion, the ship spun and rocked. Eventually, the sounds of various explosions filtered through Ezra's ears.

Then the cries of the trapped crew members stopped abruptly.

The door window was clicked across and Ezra could finally see what Vizago's plan had been. The ship had literally split in two, much like how the Phantom could separate from the Ghost, but on a much larger scale.

The other half of the ship floated away, slowly.

Ezra could now see where they had been hit. Masses of debris hung from the top roof, the wiring exposed and dripping over edges of the ship. The explosion crater was devastating, roaring with flames. He supposed it was lucky that damage hadn't been on their side, but soon realised the cost of that luck- that all those crew members, all those he hadn't been able to save, were slowly going down, down with the ship to their deaths. In order to keep this ship up, Vizago had willingly sacrificed half of his ship and crew members. What kind of person does that?

Ezra slumped onto the floor, his breathing ragged, hands still shaking from the shocks and plenty of leftover adrenaline. He looked over to where the crew members he'd managed to help were picking themselves up. Two of them started to slowly make their way down to the cockpit, assumedly to Vizago, but the first one he'd saved- Xevin- stopped momentarily and turned to look down at Ezra.

"You've got guts, kid. You saved my life and I'm thankful." With that he too left. Ezra gazed after him with wide eyes. He was a little speechless. Yes- the man was gruff, and none of them had been particularly nice to Ezra since he boarded, but he was honoured all the same by that small token of thanks. It was the only thing he could hold onto as the guilt swamped him at all the others he hadn't been quick enough to save.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: Thanks everyone for all the reviews so far :) I really hope you are all enjoying the story.**

"Six! Come in, spectre six" Ezra must be dreaming.

There was no way he could be hearing Hera's voice right now.

His name came again. This time he looked around for the sound; glancing down quickly at his jumpsuit, where, in one of his many hidden pockets, he had concealed his Ghost com. He had forgotten all about his com! Scrabbling for it, he looked around quickly to check no one was watching or within earshot before pressing the button.

"Spectre Six here. Everything okay?" He could already feel a grin building on his face.

A sigh of relief could be heard from the other end. "Your com started up, but we couldn't hear you- only the sound of explosions. Please tell me those weren't the sound of explosions?" Zeb's voice crackled over the com.

"Well, um, funny story…" Ezra joked, despite the severity of the situation.

"Ezra! You were meant to call if something went wrong!" Hera chided.

"Got a little preoccupied." Ezra shuddered, still watching as half of the ship melted away into the distance.

"Are you okay?" His master's voice came through. Ezra opened his mouth to reply, but at that precise moment, Vizago's voice came echoing round the corner.

"Sorry- can't talk." Ezra mumbled quickly before disabling his com and shoving it back into his pocket. Just in time too, for Vizago rounded the corner and, in a fit of rage, shoved Ezra up against the wall. His feet dangled.

"YOU ARE NOT TO DISOBEY ME EVER AGAIN!" He roared, "When you feel this-" He slammed down on the shock button, "-you do exactly as I ask. You're not some hero! I can- and will- make this a whole lot more painful on you, boy." Vizago threatened as Ezra shook with the force of electricity being torn through his being. He yelled out in pain, trying with all his might to get rid of the arm holding him down.

"I hope you've learnt your lesson, Jedi" Vizago spat, dropping him to the floor and marching off. Ezra slumped on the floor. Pain was all he could focus on. It was so intense- he just wanted it to stop. With a grunt, he tried to push himself up, but his arms gave way and he was left on the floor again. Eventually, his vision became blurry. He knew he was close to passing out. He was sure he hadn't even moved an inch. Every instinct he'd built up over his years on the street was screaming at him to find cover, become less vulnerable, but the blurriness took over and soon all he saw was darkness.

* * *

Kanan didn't like this- not one bit. He'd awoken with a smile on his face, remembering the fact he'd been able to see his padawan. Of course, his expression had darkened when he remembered the wrist cuff. He figured it was about time he updated Hera- and maybe the rest of the crew- on what he knew about Ezra's current predicament.

He'd gone about his morning with a persistent feeling of rising dread, like something bad was going to happen. It had him on edge for the rest of the day. In fact, Hera had just called him into the cockpit to ask about his unusual jumpiness, but before they'd had a chance to even start talking, their coms had started up. Strangely, it was the sound of static that first filtered through. Then, suddenly, loud bangs of some sort… Explosions!? It seemed to be peppered with plenty of gunfire and yelling.

It was hard to make it all out over the bad communication line. With some tracking, Hera found it was coming from none other than Ezra's com.

Of course.

Kanan's bad feeling was starting to make sense.

"Ezra? Ezra are you there?" Hera had tried to call down the com, but there had been no reply. Still the same sounds dragged on. A particularly bad explosion made the com vibrate on the table.

Whatever was happening did not sound pretty.

As they listened, horrified but unable to stop, Kanan thought he could hear Ezra's voice, something about… 'helping them'? He wasn't sure, and the words were followed with an oddly strong fizzle of static.

After far too long, all became quiet. They could just make out what sounded like heaving breathing, a gruff voice and then all was quiet again. Hera picked up the com, trying again.

After the conversation with Ezra, Kanan had sat back, rubbing his hand over his face as he tried to pull together the pieces of what they knew about Ezra's situation. Ezra had sounded awful, and Kanan was sure he had sensed pain through their bond. It was times like these that Kanan just wished he could… cocoon the kid, hide him from the world. He knew that wasn't possible, especially not when the kid wasn't even on the ship!

Hera and Zeb sat by the silent com, both looking deep in thought. Kanan supposed there wasn't going to be a better time to tell them what he knew, and so they whiled away the evening discussing everything Kanan had learned from his dreams. It was a lot to explain, and most it made more sense in Kanan's head then it did out loud, but the crew seemed to believe him.

When he'd finished, Chopper immediately started beeping about attack tactics, so Kanan had to reluctantly explain the other detail that he hadn't wanted to worry them with: the mysterious complication that Ezra had mentioned but refused to truly divulge. However frustrating it was, it meant they would be- for the time being- standing back. Then again, after what he heard today, he wasn't completely sure that leaving Ezra alone was still a good idea. He suggested that the best thing they could do was hope that Ezra either got in contact through the com or with Kanan, then they could think of a plan based off what he said. With that they all parted ways for the night, each thinking over what had been shared.

Kanan stayed alert all night, hoping for some connection from his padawan. Nothing came.

After lying in bed for hours, he tried reaching out with the force himself. Their thread was clear and pulsing, although perhaps not as strong as it had been yesterday. Kanan hoped that was only down to the distance. He tried everything he could think of, but couldn't get a good grip on the kid at all. The Jedi sighed again and rolled over. This was getting him nowhere. With concerned thoughts revolving only around Ezra, Kanan slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Ezra awoke groggily, his brain completely fuzzy as he dimly took in his surroundings. He was swinging, he was…

In his hammock? What had happened?

With a jolt everything shot back at once in a blur: the attack the bombs the closing doors Vizago's anger passing out…

Thinking over how angry the pirate had been made him grimace. It was eerie. Then he remembered the brief call he'd had from the Ghost crew, and how great it had been to hear their voices.

Hadn't one of the pirates thanked him too?

He wracked his brain, trying to make sense of all the jumbled memories in his head.

The chilling yells of desperate men echoed through his head, and he fought to shut them off before the dead feeling of guilt inside could grow.

Strangely enough, one memory he definitely didn't have was one of making it back to his 'room'. He highly doubted he'd somehow managed to crawl here. That meant that… someone else brought him here?

Either that or he was a very good sleep walker.

With a half-smile Ezra tried to lift himself up. His head and body did not appreciate the movement at all and he very much felt like just lying here forever. He half-stretched a few muscles, trying to find where he'd been hit. He was surprised when he found his shoulder no longer felt like it had been ripped to pieces; he had been sure at the time he had broken it, but now there was only the smell of medicine rub wafting off his skin. Other than that- definitely a few nasty bruises. He also had what felt like the aftermath of a concussion. But with all things considered, he was, somehow, still in one piece, and that was something he was grateful for.

That could be enough.

Despite his entire being screaming at him for rest, he got up. He figured that they must be getting close to their destination by now. Walking out of the cargo bay, he couldn't help but notice that the ship was a lot quieter. There were still obvious signs of damage carved into the ship's walls, and Ezra had to doge live wires which dangled from the ceiling. Even without the physical signs, the recent attack was written in the faces of Vizago's crew (or what was left of it, at least). There was definitely a more tense atmosphere on the ship. Wanting nothing more than for this all to be done with, Ezra made his way to the cockpit. He was determined to show Vizago that he was not afraid or threatened by him.

The quiet, strained atmosphere seeped through into the cockpit. Most of the remaining crew were gathered there, monitoring screens or playing a roughly set-up betting game. Ezra recognised the game immediately from his days on the street (he also picked up on the fact that the guy on the left was cheating). Vizago saw him approaching and waved him over, looking much more calm then he had a day ago. Ezra breathed in, composing himself and placing on the mask of indifference which he had mastered in the past.

"Jedi, we are coming close to our destination. You must understand that when we get onto this planet it is vital that you stick right beside me and the cargo. No matter who's in the firing line, we have to make it through, understood?"

"Understood." Ezra confirmed, slightly startled by the pirate's intensity.

"Keep a low profile- at least at first. Alerting everyone to your abilities might not be the best way to start. To help with that, you will wear this." Vizago tossed a plain cloak in Ezra's direction. It was a rough cloth material, but would conceal his identity well enough.

Ezra looked out the vast window to the fast-approaching planet. "What's this place called again?"

"Tatooine."

They both looked out to the dusty yellow planet in front of them.


	8. Chapter 8

"Right. I'm done waiting." Kanan announced as he entered the cockpit. He received three stares and Chopper's silence in response. "What? Don't tell me you aren't feeling the same?"

"Of course we are, love, but are you sure this is wise? Ezra did say to trust him." Hera didn't seem too convinced by her own argument.

"I know he did, but something's wrong. He didn't get in contact last night, and- frankly- I'm done standing to the side." Kanan tried not to let his impatience show too much.

"I'm with Kanan." Zeb nodded at the Jedi. "Kit can handle himself out there, but this has been going on for too long."

"So it's settled then?" Sabine asked, beginning to grin, "because I sure wouldn't mind blowing some things up right now!"

Chopper replied with a series of beeps, indicating that he was ready to get their youngest back. The droid was making it very clear that he was wishing they'd hurry up and get on with it.

"Looks like we're ready to set a destination. The only problem is that we don't know _where_ Ezra is headed." Hera gave a wry grin.

"I may be able to track his com, if he's still got it online." Sabine suggested, moving over to the computer panels.

"It's worth a try, but knowing Ezra, that com is going to be off…" Zeb chuckled.

"I might be able to help there." Kanan said, mind whirring. "If I can get a good grip on our force bond, I should be able to track down where his force signature is." He explained. He received a few more blank stares from his crew members, but just shut his eyes and smiled. "Just- trust me." He tried, before submerging himself deeply into the force, determined to follow his padawan's signature wherever it went.

That's how the next couple of hours went. Kanan stayed deep in thought, only mumbling out the occasional instruction ("no, no, more left"), directing them through different solar systems until they eventually arrived at one planet- the planet Tatooine.

* * *

The doors slowly opened to the planet's dusty surface. Ezra pulled the hood up over his face before taking his first steps out onto this new planet. He supposed it was a bit like Lothal in the way that it was pretty dry, but there weren't any flowering plants or bustling cities. In fact, it looked like they would be walking a little while before reaching the town that Ezra could just see blinking at them in the distance.

He looked behind him to see Vizago and a few guards exiting the ship. One was pulling a brown crate along with him; it was fairly large in size, completely boarded up leaving no way to see inside, the oak looked old…this presumably was the precious cargo Vizago had spoken so much about he. Ezra was still curious as to what could've made the pirate go to this much trouble for. He would be getting a good deal out of it- that was almost definite.

"You- do not take your eyes off that crate understood?" Vizago snapped to the guard.

With that, the small group started their trek out into the desert. Sand blew up into Ezra's face, but he was so transfixed by his new surroundings that he hardly noticed.

Finally they reached the beginnings of the town. It was certainly an interesting set up. The houses that lined the streets looked like they had been moulded up from the ground, as if the locals had used all kinds of natural resources to stick their houses together. It didn't make them look like the most stable buildings in the world, but, Ezra had to admit, it was pretty clever.

As they made it to the heart of town, more and more makeshift stalls started to pop up, made from rags of cloth and wonky tables. The merchants yelled out all the great offers they had, advertising all sorts of questionably helpful products. The streets were incredibly busy now, and they had to stay close together in order not to lose each other in the masses of market-goers. Ezra felt his arm being pulled by one of the guards, clearly making sure he didn't try to slip away amongst the sea of people.

Eventually, Vizago led the group down a couple of smaller alleyways. The town seemed a lot less vibrant here and it put Ezra on guard.

They were just approaching another alley way when suddenly a red blur shot down from above. A laser blast! It singed the ground next to the crate, centimetres from the guard dragging it.

"Quick! Take cover!" Vizago ordered, shoving himself behind a stack of crates. Ezra snuck round behind a dumpster, trying to see where the shot had come from.

One guard tried to make a run for it, and more blasts ensured he was on the ground before Ezra could blink. All was tense. Every fibre of Ezra's being was on edge. The shots continued to fire around them for a good few more minutes, the sound deafening, before at once everything went dead silent.

"Hellooo…Vizago!" A harsh female voice cooed, "I know it's you!"

Ezra's head whipped round to stare at Vizago. Clearly the pirate had not been expecting this; it was written in the shock on his face.

"I admit- I'm surprised you would risk coming back after last time. Clearly you're cockier than I give you credit for!" The voice laughed. A few random shots hit the crates Vizago was crouching behind- a warning. "Give us your valuables now and we might not harm your crew."

"Jedi!" Vizago whispered, ignoring the voice as best he could. "Jedi- we aren't going to get out of this unless you use some of your tricks. Understand?" Vizago commanded him quickly, leaving no room for argument.

 _Great_ , Ezra thought, rolling his eyes, _going in the line of fire again_.

With a sigh, he jumped up out of his hiding place. Immediately, shots rained down on him. He activated his sabre and went straight into action- dodging every laser he could, and deflecting the rest with his sabre. He moved himself into a good positon, making sure he could be the shield for Vizago and his crew.

"A Jedi?!" He heard the same voice yell out "Vizago you never play fair!"

Ezra was, frankly, done with this creepy voice.

"Vizago, move now!" Ezra yelled, happy to be ordering the pirate around for once. He sent a force push in the direction of the shots before quickly turning and running, managing to deflect a few stray shots that came over his shoulder before catching up with Vizago. They ran for a little while more, clearly trying to put distance between their attackers.

"We're here. Quickly- inside" Vizago pointed towards a shady-looking building coming up ahead.

 _Huh, a shady exterior,_ Ezra commented internally. _I bet it'll have dim lighting and no air conditioning as well. Kriffin' typical._

* * *

The Ghost crew had made quick work of travelling down to Tatooine, Kanan thought it was lucky they had been fairly close to the system to begin with but he was focusing on other things right now. As he had been so submerged in their bond Kanan had been getting all sorts of feelings coming from Ezra, most of them didn't make him feel any less worried. Ezra seemed to be very on edge, a little scared and annoyed… Considering the lack of positive emotions Kanan wasn't getting any good feelings about this, he knew for some reason that they were working with time against them. As they landed on the dusty surface, none of the crew hesitated before marching out, ready to bring back their own.


	9. Chapter 9

They walked in silence down the dark corridor. Echoes of laughter could be heard occasionally. The feeling that something was not right kept crawling up Ezra's spine; he had to stop himself from shivering. It was almost done though: they were finally here, and once they'd dropped off the cargo Ezra could be done with this forever. He had taken the hood off now that they were out of the public eye, and had his sabre strapped back into the safety of his belt. He hadn't noticed at first but only two of the five guards had actually come in with them; he assumed the other three were waiting outside. Glancing around, he recognised the guard who was still holding the cargo- that was the one who had thanked him for saving his life. Xevin! The man's eyes drifted over to meet Ezra's. He gave no smile, no sign of recognition before looking away again.

The crate didn't look too big. Maybe it contained some of those diamonds Ezra remembered seeing on Vizago's ship, or a rare plant- maybe even a living creature.

"Wait here." A rough voice broke his thoughts. Ezra realised they had come to a stop outside a rather grand looking door. This was it.

"You can go in now." The same voice came again. With a nod Vizago stepped through, followed by Ezra and then the guard.

The room's decor was extensive. Gold and silver plating covered intricately painted walls and ceilings. This place had the interior of a palace- it was strange that a building that looked so dull on the outside could hide this inside. Whoever owned this room had riches and clearly wasn't afraid to show it. Ezra couldn't help but gape slightly.

He looked up from the miniscule carvings on the marble floor at the sound of footsteps approaching from the other end of the room. They finally came face to face with their dealer.

Ezra had to do a double take. Their dealer was unlike any species he had seen before: a fairly average height, but with green scaly skin and weird clipped mouth, odd sections of hair stuck on end. What really caught his attention was the one beady eye that seemed to follow each and every one of his movements. The yellow pupil glued him to the spot.

"Ahh, Vizago- finally made it I see…" The dealer's voice was silky, but edged with an ominous hiss.

"Yes. Sorry about the delay." Vizago apologised.

Wait- apologised? Ezra gaped again; this dealer was clearly someone of importance if _Vizago_ was being polite.

"It is of no matter… I see you have the cargo with you now- and in one piece. I am impressed." The dealer chuckled "You have done well."

"Thank you," Vizago replied politely. Even some of the guards looked surprised.

"Come. Let me get a closer look." The dealer snapped his fingers. Ezra looked to the side towards the brown crate, ready to see what this cargo actually was.

He was rather taken by surprise, then, when two sets of hands were suddenly pulling his arms and dragging him towards this dealer.

"Wait- what? The cargo's back…" Ezra tried, too confused to put his thoughts into words.

"I present to you- your cargo." Vizago announced, smirking at Ezra's shock.

"Oh Vizago, isn't he wonderful? You even tricked the little boy too- look, how quaint." The dealer laughed. Dread slowly dawned on Ezra's face. This had all been a trick.

"No. No, I'm not-" Ezra started, struggling to get free. His words were cut off as an oily hand came to grip his face, squashing his mouth.

"I'm afraid, boy, you are. I have heard many a whisper about a young Jedi, and now here you are- and all mine too!" The dealer smiled, gripping Ezra's face harder "You should be privileged. Not many make it to my collection."

Ezra shuddered. No. No- he was not going to become some piece in a stupid collection. This was wrong, this was so wrong. His mind raced, coming up with a thousand scenarios that could come from being stuck with this dealer, and his struggles increased with panic. His eyes darted about the room. There's had to be a way out, somewhere over-

There!

His eyes landed upon a narrow ledge. It was risky, but if he could jump up there, maybe he would be able to reach the roof. With an almighty push, he shoved the guards off him (aided somewhat by the force), and with no more thinking he leapt right up, roughly landing on the ledge. This was it. He could run, he could-

"STOP!" Vizago's ordered. Then there was the horrible, familiar pain of electricity ripping through his body. Ezra gasped, collapsing to his knees. The pain had definitely increased since last time. He was struggling to think straight. He had to… had to reach the roof…

He struggled to his feet, but a sudden wave of dizziness hit him. He felt a prick in his neck, and lifted a shaking hand to it. It came away holding a small dart…

Oh karabast.

His final thoughts flew around his fear of the dealer. His last thought cried out for Kanan.

* * *

 _KANAN!_

A jolt of fear hit Kanan so strongly that it winded him. _No, no, no…_

That was Ezra. That had come from Ezra.

Ezra was definitely in trouble. Never before had he had such a prominent blast of fear from his apprentice. He should never have let him go off on his own. He had to hurry. With his stomach tying in knots, he quickly yelled for the crew before racing off. He had a padawan to find.

* * *

Ezra awoke groggily. Remembering how he had been knocked out, he dragged his hands down to his neck again, but felt no dart there, only the small incision of where it had made his mark. He was too afraid to move at first, worried that he had been out for days and would look up to find himself in amongst the dealers other antiques. His eyes cracked open, only to see a dull grey ceiling above him. He looked around, and quickly noticed metal bars.

He was in a cell? He sat up slowly, wary of the drug he could still feel in his system. He could dimly hear voices.

"I said this would be my set price."

"Yes, but now you've got to pay for the crew and ship that I lost…"

"Really Vizago? I thought better of you."

"Well- how about I make it worth your while- throw in a few extra who are just as valuable?"

"You mean- another Jedi?"

"The child had his com on him. It would be easy to contact his master- and his, *ahem* _Lasat_ friend- and lead them here."

That was Vizago and the dealer. Did that mean he was still on Tatooine? In the strange building? With a growing sense of hope, he realised he still had a chance. Clearly the drugs were meant to have put him out for longer, but now that he was awake he could try to ignore the sluggish feeling and work on how exactly he was going to escape. Ezra would not let them lead his crew into a trap.

* * *

This was it- this was the building. Kanan was sure. Ezra's force signature was strong and seemed to be residing in there somewhere.

It was worrying- he had tried communicating with his apprentice ever since he heard Ezra's cry, but there had been nothing. He nodded towards Zeb, Sabine and Chopper before they swiftly took out the couple of guards standing watch out side. Trying to stay stealthy, they made their way through the building.

He kept following Ezra's signature. It was leading them further and further in, before they finally came to a halt outside some very grand-looking doors.

"This is it." Kanan supplied helpfully after stopping for a good few seconds.

"I can hear voices inside. One sounds familiar, but it's not Ezra." Zeb narrowed his eyes in concentration, using his sensitive Lasat hearing to give them all the information he could.

"Want me to blow it open?" Sabine grinned when they realised the doors were locked.

"Go for it… Hera," Kanan opened his com line, "We're about to go in. Be ready for a speedy pick up."

"Got it, Spectre one. I'm standing by." Hera replied.

With a nod in Sabine's direction, the four Ghost members took a step back and watched as Sabine's device blew open the doors, sending them flying. As the smoke cleared, the Ghost crew sprinted into the room, coming face to face with Vizago and a specimen of what Kanan recognised as the alien species 'abyssin'.

Kanan ignited his sabre while the other sides got their bearing back.

"Where's Ezra?" He demanded, looking every bit the threatening Jedi.

"Ezra?" The Abyssin creature faced him, his one eye glaring "You mean the boy? I'm afraid you've had a wasted journey. He belongs to me now." The cruel smirk that formed on this dealer's face did nothing to help Kanan's anger.

"You're the one mistaken. He's a member of our crew, and we will not be leaving without him." Kanan stood strong, glad to have his crew behind him.

"Then we are at a disagreement." Vizago cut in.

"Appears we are," Zeb agreed, grinning slightly. "Good thing I know how to resolve it."

He shoved his bow staff down, knocking Vizago to the floor and beginning an all-out war.

Ezra's head snapped up as rapid gunfire could suddenly be heard from down the hall. That couldn't be good. He needed to move, right now.

Hang on- was that…

Yes! That was the sound of a lightsabre, and he only knew one other person who wielded a lightsabre and would be stupid enough to find him- Kanan was here!

How he was here, Ezra didn't know, but all that mattered was that now he actually stood a chance at getting out of here.

He glanced up hopefully, but with no luck- no grates. But that lock- he recognised it. This cell had to be really old, because Ezra had picked a dozen of these over his years. He quickly located the pocket that held his smaller tools and took out the best one for picking locks. It took him longer than he would've wanted, but eventually the lock clicked and the door swung open. The security in this place- fortunately for Ezra, rather less so for that creepy dealer guy - was not very tight. Without glancing back, Ezra raced down the hall, ready to reunite with his family.

* * *

As the battle begun, Vizago's guards flooded the room. Sabine wrestled one quickly to the floor, kicking her leg out as some fool tried to jump her from behind. Chopper was having the time of his life- with his speed, he was able to fly around the battle, zapping people here and there, to give the rebels the advantage they needed.

Zeb's training was obvious. He was an unstoppable warrior, cutting guards down before him as he wielded his bow staff- a true Lasat. Kanan went at the dealer and Vizago with his lightsabre, confident that Zeb was backing him up whilst keeping the troopers at bay. He slashed again at Vizago, knocking the man to the floor where he lay there groggily. He circled Vizago, ready to give the pirate his just desserts for taking his padawan.

"Kanan! Look out!" A familiar voice yelled. Kanan turned quickly, weapon at the ready, only to find his apprentice right in front of him, blocking the sword of the dealer- who had just been about to stab Kanan in the back- with his lightsabre. With a little grappling, Ezra pushed the sword off his sabre and the dealer hit the ground hard. He didn't get up.

"Ezra!" Kanan cried, over the moon to see his apprentice in one piece. "You alright?"

"I'm fine." They both knew it was a lie, but Ezra didn't really want to get into things until they were out of danger. Besides- he couldn't help but smile at being side by side with his master again.

"We need to get out of here, Kanan." Ezra said while blocking a round of shots from the guards.

"Hera should be waiting. Make for the door!" Kanan called out, alerting the other crew members to their exit. Most of the guards were on the floor by now anyway. The few that remained clearly realised their odds and fled before they too met their end. The crew ran for the door, so close, at last to freedom.

"STOP RIGHT THERE." Vizago barked. Kanan instantly regretted not ending him when he had the chance.

"You, Jedi, aren't going anywhere." He pointed to Ezra.

 **Author's note : Hope this story is living up to people's expectations so far- now we know that, yes Ezra was the cargo all along. Also I did research on star wars species and the "abyssin" is a genuine species from the universe. So if you want to know what he looks like, give it a google :) Thanks everyone !**


	10. Chapter 10

"You, Jedi, aren't going anywhere." He pointed to Ezra.

Kanan swiftly stood in front of his apprentice. No way was he letting him go again.

"Or would you rather I, ooh- press this?" Vizago threatened, finger lingering inches away from a button on a small remote.

"No." Ezra cried. Damn. He had forgotten about that. "Don't."

"Then come here, and I won't… Come quietly, and we can all walk away alive." Vizago's tone darkened. Kanan looked back, confused. What did this pirate have over Ezra? Ezra looked up guiltily, and Kanan could see the plea in his padawan's eyes, trying to tell him things were ok and that they should just go. But why?

"Come on, Jedi. I'm waiting."

With one regretful glance back at the group, Ezra started his walk forwards.

"Kit, no!" Zeb called out. What was Ezra doing?

"I'm sorry, Zeb…" Ezra answered quietly, almost at Vizago's side now.

"I am not having this." The Lasat muttered and angrily came towards Vizago.

"It's a bomb!" Ezra cried holding his wrist out in defeat. Zeb stopped sharply at the words. "It's a bomb, and if he presses that button then we all go up in flames." Ezra finished, defeated.

Kanan was shocked; this must be the complication that Ezra had refused to tell him about. Now it was going to cost him their youngest all over again. This wasn't fair.

Zeb immediately backed away, not wanting to see the effects of that button. Sabine was agitated; if only she had seen the bracelet sooner, she would've figured out why it didn't look like standard issue and could've grabbed the remote during the fight.

"Now that we all know what's at stake here, I suggest everyone kneels down slowly- with your weapons on the floor." Vizago ordered.

"You're not going to hurt them!" Ezra croaked.

"Shut up, boy!" Vizago slapped him round the face. The crew tensed, hating what this pirate was doing, more ready to fight again if only there wasn't that bomb threat.

"Now- don't make a fuss and I'll do this quick and painlessly." Vizago pulled out his gun. Ezra cried out slightly in panic- Vizago was not going to do this to his family. He would not allow it. Vizago aimed the gun right at Kanan's head. Ezra prepared himself jump, ready to put himself in the firing line.

"Goodbye Jedi- Ommph!" Vizago was cut off when he was suddenly tackled by none other than Xevin. The tackle sent both pirates down into a rough wrestle on the floor.

"Go, Ezra! You saved my life; this is me repaying the favour." Xevin lashed out with a punch right in the middle of Vizago's stomach, gaining a yelp of pain. The Ghost crew were on their feet in a second, Kanan wasting no time in force-pulling the remote out of Vizago's limp hand before grabbing Ezra by the arm.

"But-" The boy was hesitant to leave.

"Go. I can handle scum like Vizago easy." A kick, this time, was thrown at Vizago. "It was good to know you."

The doors closed behind him, Ezra caught a last glimpse of Xevin getting Vizago in a choke hold and wrestling him into unconsciousness. Ezra half-ran and was half-dragged out of the building, through the town. Kanan's hand never let him go until they were safely aboard the Ghost.

* * *

The Ghost… Ezra barely recognised the familiar surroundings, he was so out of it. The drugs still bore heavily on his system, and he supposed not eating properly for the last week hadn't been a good idea either. With everything blurring, Ezra tried to pull himself together. He was back- finally- and he wanted to savour it, not pass out. He looked up, trying to focus on the sound of voices.

"Hera, get us out of here now. I'm not risking the chance that someone'll follow us." Kanan ordered while the rest of the crew bustled around the cockpit hurriedly. More sounds started up from the engine and the ship. Oh the ship! Ezra couldn't stop the warm feeling he felt at being home. A relieved smile plastered his face as his dull senses made out the walls and rooms around him, made out the faces of the people he had come to love and trust.

Suddenly the world was shaking. He looked down to see two furry arms holding his shoulders, shaking him gently.

"Kanan- the kit's barely with us…" Zeb trailed off, unsure of what to do. Immediately Kanan came over, kneeling in front of Ezra and tapping his cheek lightly.

"You with me, padawan?" He spoke softly.

"Mhmm" Came the mumbled reply "You came."

"Of course we came" Kanan smiled, "Now- why don't we sit you down?" Kanan suggested, ushering the boy to the common room.

"M'fine" Ezra lazily insisted.

"Sure you are, kit." Zeb patted his head, and quietly positioned himself to catch Ezra if he fell.

Once Ezra was seated on the edge of the table, Kanan once again came to stand in front of him.

"Serious question now- it's important- are you hurt anywhere?" He asked, holding eye contact with Ezra. He felt so much guilt at what had already happened, and he knew he didn't even know the half of it. Chances were Ezra was suffering right now and, unless prompted, he wouldn't say a word.

"Like I said, m'fine… Just a little sleepy…" Ezra replied, eyelids flickering.

"Okay, well- try and stay awake for a little longer if you can." Kanan instructed, going to check the cuff on Ezra's wrist.

"Can't…Drugs, drug's fault…trying-don't want…" And with that Ezra dropped, slumping off the table and into the arms of Kanan, who caught him just before he hit the floor.

"Did I hear that right… Drugs?" Zeb asked from beside him, hand lightly pressing on Ezra's forehead.

"You did" Kanan confirmed. His face was one of worry as they both looked down at the unconscious youngster.

* * *

The drugs, they found out later, had been heavy sedatives. They'd had to take samples of Ezra's blood whilst he was under to make sure it wasn't something poisonous. Kanan had been assuming the worst before Hera told him the results, but thankfully it was nothing deadly- but enough sedative that he shouldn't have even been conscious back at the warehouse; let alone up and fighting. Kanan had sighed in relief, but was still incredibly unhappy with how this had happened, especially about very close call they'd had; in fact, if that pirate hadn't stepped (or rather _jumped)_ in, Kanan hadn't been sure what he was going to do. Oh, he would've done something; he had no plans to die there or leave Ezra in the hands of that guy, but his brain had still been running through all his options.

As soon as Vizago had been taken down, Kanan's only priority had been Ezra. It had physically hurt to see Ezra willingly give up his freedom all because of some stupid threat, and once he had a hold on his apprentice's arm he made sure not to let it go.

Ezra had stayed unconscious while Hera and him had changed most of his clothes into cleaner ones. In the process, they started to discover the alarming array of bruises Ezra seemed to have collected. There were several massive ones on his back arching round to his left shoulder- by the looks of things he had landed several times on that side, maybe even broken that shoulder? As they kept going, Kanan found a pattern- they hadn't really found a place that didn't have bruises. On the occasion that it wasn't a bruise, then it was a nick or scratch. Kanan was silent as he treated his padawan, thoughts engrossed on the guilt he felt.

"Stop that." Hera chided whilst softly rubbing ointment onto a particularly nasty burn.

Kanan sighed. "He wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for me."

"No- you didn't cause this. We all had our parts to play: the empire for taking you, me for not disobeying orders, but mainly this is Vizago, okay? He was the one who caused these injuries, and he was the one putting Ezra at risk." Hera spoke slowly, hoping to convince Kanan. He seemed to ponder her words for little, before smiling ruefully at her logic.

"There's still so much we don't know…" Kanan started as he found another bruise.

"He'll tell us, but only with time. We just have to make sure he knows he can come to us." Hera advised before they both went back to their tasks. They patched up as much as they could. Finally, Hera stood, giving a small nod to Kanan before making her way out. She knew he wouldn't leave that room till Ezra woke up.

And he didn't.

Sabine had crept in with Chopper at one point, trying to make light conversation with Kanan. Mainly, she told him about the remote to Ezra's cuff that she had been working on. There hadn't actually been a remove button, so she had been working around the clock, messing with the wires and intricate system in order for them to get it opened safely.

Zeb had trudged in a little after they'd left, bringing Kanan some food and keeping him distracted with tales of another time. Kanan had to admit he always enjoyed Zeb's company; the Lasat was someone who understood the adrenaline of battle, but could be very thoughtful and kind-hearted when spoken to properly. Zeb stayed for quite a while; Kanan had updated him on Ezra's injuries, to which Zeb had deflated a lot. It seemed he was upset to see his roommate roughed up, even if he did quickly hide it with a few colourful words to use to describe Vizago and how he didn't get what he deserved. Kanan had sympathised with that.

But now the Jedi was alone again.


	11. Chapter 11

His eyes kept drifting shut, sleep threatening to drag him to unconsciousness. Just as he was about to go under, a sound jolted him to full awakeness.

A small groan.

Ezra!

Kanan jumped up from where he was flopped in his seat, looking down on his padawan's slowly opening eyes.

"Hey padawan."

"H-Hey… Master, you don't look so good" Ezra teased, voice rough from lack of use.

"Oh thanks, it's good to see you too" Kanan couldn't hold back a grin. Ezra smiled back, stretching his arms out from under the covers and attempting to push himself upright. Kanan tutted and instead pulled the pillows higher to comfortably prop Ezra up.

"Thanks," Ezra murmured.

"No problem. Think you can manage some water?" Kanan asked. Ezra nodded, realising how thirsty he was. He took the glass with shaking hands, ready to gulp it down.

"Slowly now- drink in sips." Kanan ordered, seeming to know what Ezra was thinking. With a roll of his eyes Ezra did as requested and slowly made his way through the glass of water.

"Feeling alright?" His master asked, taking the empty glass.

"Much better!" Ezra smiled, happy to be home at last. "Those drugs hit me pretty hard, huh?" he asked, half chuckling.

"Ezra- they pumped you with enough stuff to have you unconscious for weeks! None of us can figure out how you were awake at all." Kanan explained, growing more serious.

"Don't look at me. One minute I'm escaping, then there's a dart in my neck- next thing I know I'm waking up in a cell!" Ezra explained, unsure if Kanan had expected something more impressive.

"Well, all I'm saying is that it was pretty unusual..."

Ezra's features scrunched up in focus "The last thing I remember was getting into the Ghost… Have I been out for very long?"

"About three days." Kanan estimated. Ezra's eyes popped open slightly. Thinking about it, his whole body did feel slightly numb from a lack of movement, but… three whole days? Kanan chuckled slightly at his padawan's surprise.

"Don't worry; it was a good thing really. Means that your body had at least a small time to heal before you start jumping around again…" They both smiled at that. "Although, seriously, Hera and I treated your injuries as best we could. I'm afraid there's really not a lot to be done about the bruises, so they're going to be sore for a while…"

Ezra couldn't help the intrusion on his privacy that he felt; they had treated him without waiting for his permission. The feeling faltered when he saw the concern on Kanan's face and knew that this hadn't been easy on him, either.

"Can we do anything about this?" Ezra asked softly, holding up his wrist.

"Sabine's working on it. But I promise we'll do whatever it takes to remove it." Kanan paused, seeing Ezra's unhappy expression. "He use that on you as leverage?"

"Yeah,"

"Did he, um" Kanan coughed, clearing his throat "Did he use it?"

"…A few times." Ezra admitted, not really wanting to remember.

"Maybe not now, but we are going to have to at least talk a little about what happened. Ashoka's probably going to ask for a report, you know."

Ezra groaned at that. Really- a report? He'd rather just put it all behind him- forget about Vizago and the dealer and be able to stop thinking about the fact that things could've turned out a lot different. Kanan watched as Ezra withdrew into himself, immediately regretting his words.

"Look, padawan- I know you don't want to, and I'm sure all of us would rather put this behind us." He trailed off for a second. "Just know that, if it makes it easier, you can always talk to me, or Hera, or- whoever you want. We'll be there."

"Thank you" Ezra spoke sincerely, "I know I don't say it enough, but- thank you for everything…" Ezra voice faded, clearly embarrassed and unsure. He suddenly found his hands very interesting. It wasn't that he didn't want Kanan to know this, it was just- he'd never really had people, well- _care_ this much, and it meant so much to him that he was lost for words.

Kanan was stunned as well; this was one of those rare times when Ezra completely opened himself up, was completely vulnerable.

"I know how you feel, Ezra… But you should know that we, too, have a lot to thank you for. If I'm honest, we weren't much of a family before you came along. Everyone has gotten so much closer with you around. It seems we both found what we were missing." As Kanan spoke, he realised just how much he meant it; Ezra had changed all of their lives for the better. Ezra's head raised slowly from his hands, eyes glued to Kanan's face. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have found this crew, and Kanan's words had only made him happier.

It was a shame, then, that he couldn't get the stupid face of that dealer out of his head, and how close he had been to losing everything and ending up in some creep's collection.

Kanan watched as Ezra's smile faltered. He wondered for a second if he'd said something wrong, but he got the sense this was something a little more deep.

"You okay?" Kanan asked gently.

"Yeah," Ezra forced himself from his thoughts, "Yeah, fine." Once again, they both knew it wasn't quite true.

Ezra had been getting steadily better since then. After two more days in bed, Hera allowed him to walk around. It annoyed Ezra to no end when he found himself getting tired after only a small bit of walking, and, although he was used to the feeling of harsh metal on his wrist, it didn't make it any easier to look at. When Sabine announced that she'd finished her re-wiring on the remote, he was, naturally, very eager to give it a try.

"You sure it will work?" Zeb eyed the cuff somewhat nervously, "Maybe we should open it outside… Just in case?"

Chopper beeped loudly. Whether it was in agreement or not, the crew wasn't sure.

"Have a little faith!" Sabine hit him lightly on the arm.

"No- we stay right here on the ship. Ezra's still a little weak to be walking too far." Hera decided.

"Right, well… I added on this small button here." She pointed to a small green button. "It should pop right off when it's pressed. That's the plan, anyway." With a nod of thanks, Ezra took the remote in hand.

"You sure you want to press it?" Kanan checked, making sure Ezra felt up to the task.

"I'm ready." Ezra replied. Oh, how badly he wanted to get this thing off. Maybe once it was removed, he would be able to sleep better, start to move on from what had happened. He felt like this cuff was anchoring him to all of the recent events, and until it was off, he wouldn't truly get better.

He had wanted to talk to Kanan about his troubles, but something had held him back. He was unsure as to how much he would actually be able to talk about. With the crew gathered around him and the remote firmly in his hand, he looked towards them all before gently pressing down on the green button.

A hiss and a clunk and the bracelet was off, clattering to the floor. Ezra smiled in relief and went to flex his hand. That was when he saw his wrist.

His, uh, rather mangled wrist.

He remembered when the cuff was first attached, it had felt like it had burned into his skin. Turns out he hadn't been wrong. Every outline and detail of the bracelet was singed into his skin; blue, black, yellow and red in a creative little pattern. Fresh blood started to weep from various cuts. There were deeper burn marks, dark in colour from where Vizago had shocked him. His whole wrist looked swollen and out of shape. Ezra's eyes were wide. He frantically twisted his wrist round, looking at the damage from all angles. Pain started to register.

The whole Ghost crew had been thrilled when they watched as the bracelet started to fall, but once they'd caught sight of the wrist underneath, every single face had dropped. Immediately, Hera had sprung into action and raced out of the room to fetch all the medical supplies she could. Kanan came towards his padawan. Carefully, he reached for the wrist, getting a closer look at the damage spread across it. Ezra winced a little. Tears stung his eyes, despite the fact that Kanan held his wrist as gently as possible. The blood was clotting here and running there. Some small parts looked infected, but Kanan was slightly grateful to note that the tightness of the metal had kept bacteria from getting to the open wounds.

Nobody spoke as Hera returned with the medical kit, but the crew flurried into activity to get water and dispose of the fragments of the cuff. Hera and Kanan did the best they could to get Ezra's wrist as clean as possible. Ezra had refused to sit still, so sat cleaning his wrist too, rubbing ointment on some of the burn areas. Once everything was clean and had been treated, Kanan wrapped a white bandage around the full length of Ezra's forearm. It may have been overkill, but Kanan wasn't taking any chances that an infection couldn't still set in. The silence had stayed with them, drawing them closer as a family in a time of need. No one was happy with what had happened, but they couldn't change it now, so they would deal with it however they could- as a family.

In the end, that was exactly what they did. Days turned into weeks, wounds started to heal and Ezra found the confidence to talk. The crew pulled together as a family to bring everything back to normality- or, at least, what passed for normality for a bunch of outlawed rebels. Kanan and his padawan spoke until Ezra's mouth was dry. Ezra had found it strange- Kanan hadn't just wanted him to describe the events; he'd wanted to hear how each one had made Ezra feel. At first the embarrassment and vulnerability had been a little overwhelming for Ezra, but with time and trust he had done it. After that, they would meditate together, and Kanan would slowly guide Ezra through the process of accepting each feeling for what it was, and then letting it go. Yes- he felt guilt for those he hadn't helped on Vizago's crashing ship, but he wouldn't let it drown him. Instead he acknowledged it, mourned them and learnt to work with himself rather than against. The process was slow and it took a lot of work, but, by the end of it, Ezra was starting to feel like Ezra again.

The crew woke one day to a beeping noise resounding through the ship.

"Incoming- distress signal." Hera spoke, readying the crew. "Coming from some sort of escape pod."

The signal crackled for a little, before a very familiar voice came over the line.

"Hello? Is anybody there? My pod's almost out of fuel!"

 _You have got to be joking…_

Vizago.

Wow. What a small galaxy.

The crew were stunned in silence for a minute, their heads anxiously turned towards Ezra. That voice would be bringing back some bad memories.

"Oops! My bad…" Ezra accidentally reached forward, and flipped the tiny communication switch- completely unintentionally, of course. The call was disconnected. Faces lit up in humour.

"What a shame. It would definitely be too hard to try and connect back now…" Hera said, a smile curled at her lips.

"And the Phantom's in no shape to be flying around looking for an escape pod- could take hours." Zeb laughed slightly.

"Oh well…" Sabine shrugged, grinning.

"We tried," Kanan finished, signalling for Hera to get them going. Soon laughter bubbled from everyone as they went on their way.

"Bet he regrets calling in his favour now" Ezra chuckled, Kanan's comforting hands on his shoulders and the Ghost crew smiling around him.

Safe to say, he was never making a deal ever again.

The End!

 **And there we have it, the final chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this story, thanks so much for the reviews and the support :)**


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